Ten Reasons Why the Bible’s Story of the Exodus is Not True
And why it really matters.
The story of the Exodus, in conjunction with others in the first five Books of the Old Testament, often referred to as the Books of Moses, the Torah or the Pentateuch, has been the foundation for three major religions and some minor ones. History has many examples of nations, cities, ethnic groups and even families who proclaim their origin based on a mythological story or a highly exaggerated one. These “founding stories” seek to unify and exalt their group. Such stories in no way make the reality of their existence illegitimate.
Many quotes and links from Jewish Rabbis and Israeli archeologists and historians will be cited throughout this article. There are some Biblical literalists (both Jewish and Christian) who maintain that the Exodus took place exactly as the Bible states. Their main argument is that the lack of archaeological and historical evidence does not rule it out. However, as we will see, most experts and scholars dismiss the story as mythology. While some of them still maintain a faith in God, they interpret their origin story as a metaphor or presentation, just as many Christians, who acknowledge the fact of evolution and contradictions in the Bible, view them as being far less important than “the greater truth.” They say it is the power of the sweeping epic that lies in its profound and timeless message about freedom and not whether it is based upon literal historical facts.
Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple’s senior rabbi interviewed By the Los Angeles Times, said: “The truth is that virtually every modern archeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.”
Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, the distinguished professor of liturgy at Hebrew Union College, in his article titled “The Bible is Fiction,” did not discuss history or archeology, but argued more broadly that the Books of Moses are fiction because their authors meant it not as science or history but as presentation.
William Dever, a convert to Judaism, and a professor of Near Eastern archeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona and one of America’s preeminent archeologists argued that “the Exodus story was produced for theological reasons: to give an origin and history to a people and distinguish them from others by claiming a divine destiny.”
Even if we ignore all these scholars and experts, there are many reasons why the very words of the Biblical account itself make the story of the Exodus implausible.
1. No evidence in history or in the ground: The story of the Exodus only appears in the Hebrew Bible/the Christian Old Testament and nowhere else. Not in Egyptian history, nor in any other history. Despite decades of extensive archaeological endeavors, not one trace of it has ever been found. This story describes over two million people escaping from Egypt and spending 40 years in the wilderness. That is more than twice the population of Jerusalem today. Almost all archaeologists, including those in Israel, acknowledge that it could not have possibly happened without significant evidence being left behind; yet not a trace has ever been found, even after numerous and extensive attempts to prove the historicity of this event.
In fact, according to the books of Exodus and Numbers, an estimated 2,500,000 people moved and set up their camp 42 times during those 40 years, giving archaeologists many large areas to search. The only things they found were small ancient villages (and even a deeply buried riverbed lined with stones), but nothing from the 42 largest and most populated “cities” that the Bible claims were in the same area. Every one of those areas would have left millions of animal bones from the daily sacrifices, cemeteries each having tens of thousands of burials, and a sundry of other things including remnants of their numerous fires. Ground-penetrating radar can often reach a depth of 50 feet. Not only are artifacts best preserved in dry deserts, but all known high-tech instruments were used.
Written history records much in that area for over 15 centuries before this event was said to have occurred. Surely, news would have quickly spread throughout the entire area about the mighty military of Egypt being destroyed by runaway slaves and many accounts of it would have been recorded. Yet, no account of it has ever been found. What history does record is that the mighty military of Egypt not only was not destroyed, but that they controlled the area of Canaan, the place where it is said the slaves escaped to, during that time and long afterwards.
2. An implausible start: The Bible tells us that all two million plus of them were informed that the very next day, they would be escaping from Egypt and had to immediately get prepared. (see Exodus 11:2–4 and Exodus 12:21–24)
In one day, over two million people, in Egypt, a very large county with no telephones or radios, were all contacted and instructed to collect treasure from their masters and then to kill a one-year old male lamb and smear its blood on the door posts of their house that night. Obviously, these slaves were apparently wealthy, as they all had houses with doors and a sizable herd of sheep so that each family was able to pull an unblemished, one-year old male lamb from it. In a normal flock of sheep, about 20% are one year old…half of those would be males.
3. A really long line: Two and a half million people would have created a line well over 200 miles long (at eight abreast with only three feet between each row) along with their animals, of which the Bible says they had many. They also took along much treasure. Many would have been with babies, pregnant, crippled, blind, or bedridden, and yet a line of people extending over 200 miles long were able to outrun the Egyptian army who were chasing them with chariots and horses, all in a single day and night.
Orthodox Jewish scholar Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University, said, “you’d have to be a bit crazy to accept that figure” when asked about the number of escaped slaves recorded in the Torah.
4. A load beyond measure: Despite the Bible saying elsewhere that they only took food wrapped in their shoulder sleeves and some treasure they obtained from the Egyptians, we see soon after this one day escape that they all had tents to live in, along with tools and weapons. They also had plenty of wood for the many required daily sacrifices that their God demanded. We see in Exodus 29:25 “You shall take them from their hands, and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the Lord; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.” God loved the sweet soothing aroma of the burning animals after they were just slaughtered as it floated up to His dwelling place; which is described elsewhere as actually being the floor of the sky (firmament) where the rain and snow are stored.
Exodus chapters 35 and 39 describe numerous other items they had to have in order to build the tabernacle which was built in the center of each camp including such things as 48 15-foot solid beams overlaid with gold, and dozens of other items. Where did all of these things come from? Numbers Chapter 7 states they had six carts pulled by oxen that moved those items from camp to camp.
5. Unrealistic hygiene requirements: Deuteronomy 23:12–14 says, “You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement. Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.”
For those living near the center of camp, it would probably require a couple of miles each way, given the estimate of the population, animals and bare-bone infrastructure. Below is a refugee camp with tents. To house the 2,500,000 people, they would have needed around 625,000 of them with no restroom facilities inside its perimeter.
6. Moses did not write any of the Torah: It is very easy to confirm and to understand why the overwhelming majority of Biblical scholars today have determined that the “Books of Moses,” the first five books in the Old Testament, were not written until during or after the post-exilic period (later than 586 B.C.E.) and absolutely not by Moses, who would have died many centuries before… that is, had he been a real person. History records thousands of individuals during more than 15 centuries before Moses was supposed to have lived, but not one word about him anywhere even though he is said to have defeated the Egyptian military and performed dozens of incredible miracles. There are no historical records about Abraham, Isaac or Jacob either.
In his book this year, The Bible Unearthed, Israeli archeologist Israel Finklestein of Tel Aviv University and archeological journalist Neil Asher Silberman raised similar doubts and offered a new theory about the roots of the Exodus story. The authors argue it was written centuries after the alleged events as a political manifesto to unite the Israelites.
Just a few reasons why a Moses authorship is readily dismissed are:
A. In Deuteronomy 31:9 and elsewhere Moses is referred to in the third person. That is an indication that someone else is narrating the deeds of Moses.
B. Nowhere does it ever claim to be written by Moses.
C. Number 12:3 states, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” By definition, a truly humble person would never admit it.
D. It records details of Moses’ death.
E. Several statements such as “before any king ruled over the sons of Israel” in Genesis 36:31 implies a time in the writers mind when kings had ruled over the Israelites, but none did until centuries after Moses would have died.
F. Scholars believe that there are multiple writers/editors to the first five books. The fact that Moses's father-in-law is sometimes called Jethro and other times Reuel is just one of many examples.
G. See Number 7below regarding anachronisms.
7. There are many anachronisms: Many locations named in this story were not even in existence at that alleged time, clearly proving the story was developed at a much later time than it claims to be. This is called an anachronism, one of several factors that scholars use in dating old manuscripts. An example would be a story claiming to be written at the time of George Washington but referencing a city named Seattle or referring to things such as radios. That would be proof positive that the author was not telling the truth about when it was being composed.
Moreover, specialists in the Hebrew Bible say that the Exodus story is riddled with internal contradictions stemming from the fact that it was spliced together from several texts written at different times. One passage in Exodus, for instance, says that the bodies of the pharaoh’s charioteers were found on the shore, while the next verse says they sank to the bottom of the sea.
Another is that the Edomite kings listed in Genesis 36 did not live until a time well after Moses would have died. For more detail, see Book of Joshua.
8. What would it take infrastructure wise for a community of 2,500,000 to function?
After 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua and Caleb were the only two still alive from the original 2,500,000 who escaped. The Bible indicates that the population after the 40 years was nearly the same. (603,500 before vs 601,730 after the 40 years of men over 20 years old who were able to go to war).
This problem needs little if any comment. Water distribution in the desert would require an amazing network of wells, cisterns, and piping, assuming you can find the water to begin with. Since their food was rained down for them as manna, we can skip that necessity. Sanitation would be huge, manufacturing of clothes for those born in the wilderness, hospitals, first aid stations, schools, day care, where to gather wood for the many daily sacrifices (in the desert), medicines, soap, blankets or sleeping bags for those cold nights, and countless other needs that cannot be ignored. Factories and mining facilities were needed as they all had spades, tools, and weapons.
Let us not forget the necessary streets or walkways, pastures and barns, food for the animals and storage for their feed, to name just a couple more. And all of that infrastructure had to be built or reassembled 42 times as Exodus 40:36–37 states “Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.”
Remember that photo of a few thousand tents in a refuge camp. Again, around 625,000 would be needed. (if a family averaged four people…the same factor often used to arrive at the estimated total of 2,500,000)
9. Can the earth ever stop spinning? As a climax to the Exodus was the alleged conquest of Canaan. The Bible claims that God literally stopped the sun for 24 hours so that Joshua could defeat the enemy while there was still light. Physics is clear; if the earth abruptly stopped spinning for even a second, all people, animals, rocks, topsoil, trees, buildings, and so on, would be swept away into the atmosphere. No where in the world is there any record of this long day.
10. Parallels of earlier known writings: Mythological stories are usually built around superheroes. The story of the Exodus was written during the Babylonian captivity where most of the Jewish captives assimilated into its culture. Many did not return when King Cyrus decreed them the right to. The fact is, many liked it there and were well settled and comfortable. What were the priests to do?
One of the most famous kings known to that history was the Akkadian King Sargon. He was called Sargon the Great who conquered among other places, Mesopotamia and the Levant. He established the first real empire. He was well known in Babylonian literature and was a famous legend due to his birth story and great leadership. Note how the writers gave Moses those same attributes. Here is a brief account of his Sargon’s birth and deeds:
The following worn translation of the legend comes from J.B. Pritchard’s The Ancient Near East Volume I, pages 85–86. It reads: (The legend of Sargon)
Sargon, the mighty king, king of Agade, am I.
My mother was a changeling, my father I knew not.
The brother(s) of my father loved the hills.
My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates.
My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me.
She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed
My lid.
She cast me into the river which rose not (over) me,
The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the
drawer of water.
Akki, the drawer of water lifted me out as he dipped his
e[w]er.
Akki, the drawer of water, [took me] as his son
(and) reared me.
Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener,
While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me (her) love,
And for four and [ … ] years I exercised kingship,
The black-headed [people] I ruled, I gov[erned];
Mighty [moun]tains with chip-axes of bronze I con-
quered,
The upper ranges I scaled,
The lower ranges I [trav]ersed,
The sea [lan]ds three times I circled.
Dilmun my [hand] cap[tured],
[To] the great Der I [went up], I [. . . ],
[ . . . ] I altered and [. . .].
We now understand why the writers of these five books developed its main character, Moses, into someone the people could identify as being a great superhero. The same birth story as Sargon’s along with many miraculous stories and fearful commandments saying that if they followed this God, all would be wonderful, but if not, there would be nothing but dreadful pain. The writers had an extremely hard task in motivating the people to return and become unified and this story of their alleged origin was key.
The writers knew that if there was going to be a unified people, a people who were enjoying the safety of another culture and other gods; they would have to be separated from “the snares of the world,” so the “carrot and stick” approach was utilized.
In fact, this separation was key in the opinion of the writers for we read in Ezra 10:2–4, at the time many of the captives were returning, “… We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. So now let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Arise! For this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you; be courageous and act.”
Separation was more important than their faithfulness and loyalty to their wives and very own children.
This story included many acts of genocide to accomplish two main goals: the obtaining of sacred land areas, and as the Bible says, to free them from being tempted by foreign women and gods.
We conclude with several more quotes from Rabbis and Jewish scholars:
Again, from William Dever, the professor of Near Eastern archeology and anthropology at the University of Arizona said; “The Exodus story was produced for theological reasons: to give an origin and history to a people and distinguish them from others by claiming a divine destiny.”
Ze’ev Herzog continued, “Scholars have known these things for a long time, but we’ve broken the news very gently, the old emphasis on trying to prove the Bible has given way to more objective professionals aiming to piece together the reality of ancient lifestyles.”
“Among Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews, there is a much greater willingness to see the Torah as an extended metaphor in which truth comes through story and law,” said Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.
The first mention of Israel in recorded history is ironic. It was engraved by the Egyptian Pharaoh on the famous Merneptah Stele dated to 1205 B.C.E., about two centuries after Israel would have been well settled in Canaan.
The princes are prostrate, saying, “Peace!”
Not one is raising his head among the Nine Bows.
Now that Tehenu (Libya) has come to ruin,
Hatti is pacified;
The Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe:
Ashkelon has been overcome;
Gezer has been captured;
Yano’am is made non-existent.
Israel is laid waste and his seed is not;
Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
Not one trace of evidence after decades of diligent investigation with the most advanced technological tools.
Not one word in Egypt’s history recording anything connected with the Bible’s account. And not one word from any other surrounding nations or states (or private historian) who would have gladly published the destruction of a mighty army by runaway slaves. That is why few scholars will defend the Bible’s account of it.
This is just one example that clearly proves that the Bible was not inspired by a good and perfect God… it was written by human hands, with human motives. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, the Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace, prosperity, and harmony, as people of good will celebrating their remarkably close ancestry and in a land large enough for all of them.
